To think there is a poor understanding of a healthy diet?

[LivelyLemonQuoter]

I think most people think they know what a healthy diet looks like, but in reality they do not. I see so many comments on MN that demonstrate this.

The most common one is that fruit should be limited because of its sugar content. This is very bad advice. Sugar in fruit has little impact on our blood sugar levels. And most people in the UK do not eat enough fruit.

The other is concern over eating any carbs. Wholemeal bread and pasta is fine, carbs in pastry and doughnuts is not great though.

And most people need to eat more nuts. Nuts are very good for you and should be part of your regular diet.

I dunno, it sounds nice and I love all of those -- but I have to go very easy on the fibre, for reasons best left unspoken, so couldn't eat it in one day.

That is very healthy. I’d happily eat it too. But unfortunately my kids would not. Although I do sneak a lot of lentils into our cottage pie/bolognaise type meals.

Personally, I’d swap the oats for full fat Greek yoghurt or eggs. I’m trying to reduce my carbs and eat more healthy full fat options.

Regular consumption of oats is shown to reduce cholesterol.

Apart from anything else this just strikes me as a lot of food. Minimum of three fruit portions, three veg portions and three pulse portions? I only have three meals a day!

Those foods are all low calorie

This is my blood sugar after a small bowl of unsweetened whole oat porridge with about 5 blueberries and some seeds.

Highly recommended a cgm to everyone, immediate feedback really changes your choices.

Also note the huge crash afterwards I to the red 'too low' range. I was out and felt faint and sick. Never again.

I admit I find it very, very confusing. I hear contradicting and conflicting things all the time, everyone seems to have very different ideas about what the ideal or healthy diet is including experts. So you can’t really blame people for not really knowing.

You seem to have very rigid ideas about what people should and shouldn't eat. I think it would be perfectly possible to have a very healthy diet without adhering to your rules.

A very short spike in blood sugar is fine.

I agree we should eat more pulses

more veg than fruit is ideal

What would you recommend as a healthy daily diet?

How so? What is that's in it that's a problem?

So how did we managed when we'd never even heard of chia seeds or flaxseeds etc? They are not even available everywhere in the world and yet people somehow survive very well without them!

its not affordable

This is about your ideal healthy diet. Not just surviving. And flaxseed is from a tough grass that grows wild in many places.

Just do as much as you can. I do not always eat healthy every day, but I do try to. I buy from ALDI

Eh? Flaxseed is from flax, surely.

Blue thing. Has flowers.

Why? What do you eat?

No I've not explained properly. I do eat healthily, i eat fruit and veg and meat. My dinner is usually some potatos, beef or fish and brocolli or something like that. but you were asking why people dont eat the way you describe and its because healthy food such as nuts seeds and berries are very expensive. It's a fiver for some blueberries here. other berries are not much different in price. Can you imagine the cost if families had to eat that way everyday, they wouldnt be able to pay their rent.

Me too. I eat lots of oats, fresh fruit and veg, fish, pulses, seeds and nuts. Do my big weekly shop at Aldi.

I do think you should caveat your advice though - not all bodies work the same.

This proves I know nothing about being healthy. Ask me to name a protein….Id struggle. What does 120g of protein look like? Should I weigh it or go by sight? What is the difference between a complex carb and a regular carb? Refined carbs? And the op mentioned seeds that I wouldn’t know where to buy or what to do. I am overweight and know I need to do better but it is bewildering. Even this thread people are disagreeing about fruit. For people like me it just seems too complicated so we stick with what we know even though it’s bad. I’m going to keep a watch on this thread for more information.

Fair enough but we also need to consume sufficient calories.

I love lentil soup. I love a chickpea curry. Most fruit gives me the shits and I'm gluten (and, I am now realising, avenin) intolerant so your daily diet would leave me ill and malnourished.

Do you take a B12 supplement?